Success Story: From rear of the grid to the podium, BMW triumphs at Lime Rock Park

Success Story: From rear of the grid to the podium, BMW triumphs at Lime Rock Park once again.

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – July 25, 2010… In the biggest story of accomplishment at Saturday’s American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3 GTs scored 2nd and 3rd place finishes in a triumph of race strategy at BMW’s home track. Recovering from an unfortunate qualifying result which placed the team at the rear of the starting grid, drivers Tommy Milner and Bill Auberlen finished 2nd,, while co-drivers Dirk Muller and Joey Hand scored 3rd place and set the fastest GT-class lap of the race (Hand) at 0:55.943 seconds.

With this result, the team continues the success streak of the BMW M3 at Lime Rock Park. BMW of North America has never raced an M3 at Lime Rock Park without scoring a podium finish, and today there were two. In five races elapsed this season, the two-car team has scored seven ALMS GT podium finishes.

“Today we showed the power of the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, and to come back from such a frustrating qualifying session to battle for the lead all day is very satisfying,” said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. “The entire team fought hard on a very tough and hot day on a race track where you are constantly in traffic. We extended our podium streak and are looking forward to picking back up at Mid-Ohio in two weeks.”

Tommy Milner (No. 92) started from the 9th spot on the grid and began the attack, quickly reaching 7th place by Lap 9. Also by lap 9, Dirk Mϋller (No. 90) had reached 9th place. Twelve minutes into the race saw the first full-course caution period, and both BMWs pitted for fuel. During the stop, the No. 90 was able to rejoin just ahead of the No. 92, putting Mϋller in 5th and Milner in 6th at the 34-minute mark. The race’s 3rd full course caution period fell at the 40-minute mark, with Mϋller 3rd and Milner 4th. During the caution, the BMWs stayed out on track, boosting them to the 1st and 2nd places at the restart.

The team finally chose to pit the M3 GTs on Lap 91 (Car 90) and Lap 93 (Car 92), about one hour and forty minutes into the race. During the stops, Joey Hand took over for Mϋller and Bill Auberlen took over for Milner. The drivers re-joined the race in 4th and 3rd places, respectively. After one of the lead competitors pitted, the BMW duo took over the 3rd and 2nd slots, and held them for the remaining 68 laps despite several attempts by Auberlen to challenge for the win, and several attempts by Hand to challenge for 2nd place. As if putting an exclamation point on the team’s accomplishment, Joey Hand was the only ALMS GT driver to set a lap time under 56 seconds Saturday.

“Today was full of good news,” said Martin Birkmann, BMW of North America Motorsport Manager. “We continued our streak of finishing on the podium this season, and we led a few laps which is something we’ve also done at all previous races this year. The bad news of course is that a win remains elusive. I keep promising the fans a win and as long as we continue to be in good shape I expect we will deliver. If you told me Friday night that today we would be able to pass so many competitors and challenge for the win, I wouldn’t have believed it. This is a good result and our team – especially our pit crew – is incredible.”

No I wish I was there, I was ironically in Brooklyn this morning These photos are from BMWs official press coverage

I think it will be a while before I post mine,
since I still have to develop prior events
But I took over 1500,
which in my selection should be good 200+ pics..
Since I burst every panning pass, and from 5-7 frames
I pick out one good one, but we shall see..
And also got a quick lil vid off the cars heating up the tires,
on the recon lap..

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Anyone else here go to the american le mans this weekend ? figured i would share some pics and videos i took .... i was there with GPNY evo parked out behind the tent ... and btw these are all iphone pics not as good as the ones above but still !

Here are the results. Note that the M3s were racing in the GT class and the 2nd and 3rd place finishes were in their class not overall. The fact that they finihed ahead of a number of LeMans Prototypes speaks well for the cars , the drivers and the BMW/RLR team.

I was there this weekend as well, awesome time! It was my first race and what a great experience...the BMW preferred parking was a nice touch also. So many great BMW's out there including an insane amount of beautiful porsches. I'll definitely be back next year!

I was there this weekend as well, awesome time! It was my first race and what a great experience...the BMW preferred parking was a nice touch also. So many great BMW's out there including an insane amount of beautiful porsches. I'll definitely be back next year!

X2 on that..

__________________

ENRON = We Take Your Money and Run!!!
"Never bring a Camera to a Gun Fight, You never know who you might Point n Shoot at!!!"
"Victims, arent we all?"http://photowithart.com/